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Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Pirates back in last place after 15 consecutive outs to close latest loss

Originally posted on DK Pittsburgh Sports | Last updated 5/1/24

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Another loss, another awful offensive output, and the final night of April gets spent in last place.

The Pirates continued their stretch of wretched results Tuesday night, falling to the Athletics, 5-2, at Oakland Coliseum and falling into the National League Central Division cellar for the first time this season. The've now lost 15 of 20 since their 9-2 start and are five games behind the first-place Brewers. The Cardinals are a half-game ahead in fourth place.

A five-hit total contributed to a four-inning span in which the Pirates produced frequent leadoff baserunners, generated four walks and scored twice against Oakland starter Alex Wood. But in the final five innings, they were limited to one hit and saw 15 consecutive batters retired to end the game. The final six of those went down by strikeout, accounting for half of their overall dozen.

“I thought we actually had better swings tonight than we have the last couple days," Derek Shelton said. "We’re just still not finding that big hit. We’re not finding that two-out hit that the A’s got tonight. We just gotta keep going.”

Wood was out after four innings, leading to three bullpen arms shutting things down for the A's. Mitch Spence allowed one hit and and struck out two in three scoreless innings before Lucas Erceg and flame-throwing Bethel Park native Mason Miller closed the game with three strikeouts each.

“Tonight, it had a little bit to do with their pitching. I thought Spence did a good job and then the two guys in the eighth and the ninth were really effective," Shelton said. "But this is more about us than it is about anything else.”

Connor Joe had two of the five hits, including a two-out solo home run in the second inning that made it 1-0. He beat out an infield single in the fifth.

Joe acknowledged his swing has felt good since spring training and he's taken full advantage of making contact with pitches he can handle. The proof is in his .291/.371/.488 slash line on the year and the consistent level of success he's been able to maintain when in the lineup. Regardless of the splits, he's produced with a .314 average against left-handed pitchers and a .278 average against righties.

But while Joe -- one of three players recently acknowledged by Ben Cherington as performing above the team's internal projections thus far, along with Alika Williams and Joey Bart -- has been consistent, the collective has failed to put things together over the past 20 games. As was evident here again Tuesday, four innings of somewhat better production was easily diminished by five innings of zero production.

In Joe's eyes, it's a long season, and the grind just has to continue:

"Unfortunately, we've gone cold collectively as a team," Joe said. "Very rarely, everyone's going to be going off all cylinders. If there's a couple guys scuffling, then the rest of the team can pick him up. That's how baseball goes. But, when it's the majority of the order and we're all scuffling, it makes it tough to win ball games and that's kind of what we're all going through right now. Again, we're not even in May yet. There's still a lot of baseball, a lot of season left. I think we got to stay confident and keep grinding."

Joe added he doesn't believe the group is too far off.

"You look back at the series in Miami and Washington, we're doing the same things and maybe getting that big hit in that clutch situation," Joe said. "Things aren't falling for us when we need them to fall for us right now. That's what's making for a long couple weeks here. We don't need to do a complete 180. We don't need to go searching for anything crazy. Like I said, just keep plugging."

On Tuesday night, the Pirates had leadoff baserunners in four straight innings from the second to the fifth and could only generate one run within that span. In three of those innings, two runners reached base and a pair were stranded in both the second and the third. They scored their only other run in the fourth after Jared Triolo led off with a single and Michael A. Taylor followed with a walk. Relying on a bit of small ball, both moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Williams and Triolo trotted home on a sac fly by Ke'Bryan Hayes.

Triolo's run tied the game at 2-2 after a two-run second for Oakland featured RBI singles from Abraham Toro and Tyler Nevin. JJ Bleday provided the difference in the fifth and seventh innings, hitting a solo home run off Pirates starter Mitch Keller and adding a two-run shot off Josh Fleming for his first career multi-homer performance.

Keller ended up allowing three runs on five hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

"He kept us in the game," Shelton said. "This didn’t have anything to do with our pitching. We’ve got to create more run-scoring opportunities.”

In the midst of frustrating times, it's important for there to be a balance between feeling disappointed in the results and not letting it carry over to the next game. Joe, like many of his teammates, isn't at all satisfied with what the team has shown as of late. But all they can do now is move on to Wednesday's series finale and try to salvage one in the getaway game.

"Losing is frustrating," Joe said. "I don't think too many people in here are happy. But, I don't think emotions of frustration are beneficial, especially in a game like baseball. You're not playing a physical game like football where you get mad and you just go hit someone harder, it's not like that. End of the day, we've got to make sure we're prepared for each series. Make sure we know the scouting reports. Prepare our tails off. Build confidence from that preparation and go into games loose. Not pressing, right? That's what's going to win us baseball games."